1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns computer-implemented and/or computer assisted methods, systems and mediums for enabling improved control (e.g., parallel control) during advanced process control. More specifically, one or more embodiments of the present invention relate to enhanced control of the processing of products, such as semi-conductor wafers, on comparably configured processing devices, such as chambers, utilizing behavior information.
2. Related Art
Microelectronic products, such as semi-conductor chips, are fabricated in foundries. In a foundry, batches of products are typically fabricated in parallel on assembly lines using identically configured components such as, e.g., chambers, tools, and modules (e.g., a grouping of tools). The intention is that these assembly lines will produce batches of identical products. Typically, each of these products are made by utilizing a multitude of recipes, where each recipe may be thought of as a set of predefined process parameters required to effectuate a processing outcome.
It is also often the case that a batch of products, such as a small lot of specialized chips, are produced, and then the next batch of the same type of product is produced minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months later. This later parallel batch could be produced on the same or different assembly line. Despite the time lapse, it is intended that the products in these batches will be identical.
Though it may be desired that, in the situations mentioned above, the results of a particular recipe (and, where the sum total of the recipes are the same, the final products themselves) be identical from batch to batch, this in fact might not necessarily occur. One reason is because differences in the raw materials that are used from one batch of wafers to another may emerge. For example, one shipment of a raw material may contain chemical impurities that do not exist in a subsequent shipment.
Another reason for lack of identical results concerns those situations where the manufacture of two different products happens to involve the use of at least one recipe in common (but where, e.g., the recipes used prior to the common recipe for each product differs). Though two different end products may be the ultimate goal, it is still desirable for the specific common recipe to have the same specific result when used in the course of manufacturing each of the two products. However, in reality, the effect of the common recipes may differ somewhat, due to the fact that the processing tools had, prior to the common recipe steps, been performing different tasks in the course of manufacturing each of the two products. E.g., prior to implementing the common recipe, a tool manufacturing product X may have been tasked to provide a relatively deep etch, whereas a tool manufacturing product Y may have been tasked to provide a relatively shallow etch prior to implementing the common recipe. Thus, the ability of a processing tool to reset itself to perform a specific task may be affected by the type of task it had previously been performing.
When situations such as those mentioned above occur and cause the tools to produce results not otherwise desired by the recipes, techniques exist to allow appropriate modifications to be made to the tool settings. However, if one were to contemplate conveying those modification settings to, e.g., other tools on another assembly line making the same product, a problem one would encounter is that each component of an assembly line, e.g., chambers, tools and modules, is adjusted separately and independently, even though the same product is being fabricated in parallel on another assembly line. While modifications made to one tool or chamber on, e.g., one assembly line could be manually matched in another tool or chamber on, e.g., another assembly line (or re-used on the same assembly line at a later time), no method or process currently exists to provide for automated communication of the modification. These types of communication problems also exist with regard to components on the same assembly line, as well as sub-components on the same component (and even regarding use of the same component or sub-component at different times).
Consequently, what is needed is an improved scheme for capturing desired behaviors (e.g., parameter settings) of components, and communicating those behaviors to other (and/or later used) components to, e.g., improve consistency of the results of given recipes (or other instruction-based entities).